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The Decline in Thrift & Deterioration of American Savings Rates
Economic metrics are awfully smart tools to paint a particular picture of the state of America with. For example, fingers are often pointed at current low unemployment and economic growth figures to suggest Trump’s effectiveness. But the truth is that the overall economic picture is not quite so lovely and ideal. Which is to say, there are some financial trends that we avert our eyes from and that are not particularly popular with politicians (and for good reason). Now, assessing the macro-financial state of our country is very tricky, especially considering the multitude of variables, the distinction between national and individual/household finance, and a rapidly changing economic climate.
On the one hand, standards of living purportedly have increased, GDP figures fatten every year, and as of recently unemployment has indeed hovered at record lows. On the other hand, our nation is saturated with increasingly high rates of debt, wages have been mostly stagnant, and savings rates have declined to threadbare levels. All this said, the full picture is frustratingly complex and in all honesty, it’s hard to know what data will be most instrumental to how we fare, as a nation and as individuals, in the future.
One of these metrics is a bit more hush than the others, however. And this is the deterioration of…
